Key proposals:
● Provide €500 electricity credit for every household funded by data centre levy.
● Give a 10% pay increase to public sector workers, raise disability payments to €350 per week and deliver an additional €55 per week cost of disability payment.
● Abolish fees for third-level education and childcare.
● Triple spending on public housing and re-purpose the Land Development Agency as a state construction company
● Buy 500 additional electric buses and hire required bus workers
People Before Profit will launch their alternative Budget 2027 at 11am this morning at a press conference in Buswells Hotel in Dublin city centre.
Speaking ahead of the press conference, Richard Boyd Barrett TD said:
“Today we launch our alternative Budget 2027 proposals ‘For an Affordable Ireland - Tax the Multi-millionaires’.
“We live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet the majority of workers and households are seriously struggling with the cost of living and a majority of our young people are thinking of leaving the country altogether because they can't afford to live here.
“The problem is not that we don't have the wealth to solve these problems, the problem is the distribution of that wealth and the way Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael prioritise the interests of big corporations and the super-wealthy over the needs of ordinary working people.
“We now have 11 billionaires in Ireland who have more wealth than 3,500,000 people combined. The cost-of-living crisis has intensified while record profits are recorded by corporations, energy companies, developers and big landlords.
“Budget 2026 was a disaster for workers and families, and people with disabilities were left €1,400 worse off. In contrast, large tax cuts were handed out to property developers and fast food chains.“This must not happen again. It is time to redistribute the massive wealth in this state from multi-millionaires and from corporate profits to the people who create the wealth; to fund new housing, quality public services and a just transition.
“We propose radical plans to widen the tax base through a multi-millionaires tax and by introducing a financial translations tax. We also propose to introduce higher income tax rates for very high earners, and increase the effective corporation tax rate to 20%.
“These measures alone would raise an additional €45 billion, which is more than enough to pay public sector workers a 10% increase, end poverty for people with disabilities, abolish third-level and childcare fees, and triple spending on public housing.
“The surging popularity of Die Linke in Germany, the DSA in the United States and Mélenchon in France shows a growing appetite for radical and socialist change across the world. That appetite exists here too and our proposals are a response to that.”
Councillor Conor Reddy said:
“Prices have increased by 22% in the last 5 years but wage increases for many have lagged this inflation. Energy prices are surging again and Irish households pay the highest electricity price in the EU. In contrast, data centres consume close to a quarter of all electricity but pay half what households have to pay.
“Ordinary people are under enormous financial strain and need support. We are proposing a range of measures to tackle the cost of living crisis, including a €500 electricity credit for every household funded by an electricity consumption levy on data centres.”
Paul Murphy TD said:
“We are faced with existential climate, biodiversity and environmental crises that are destroying the conditions of life. Despite the unfolding catastrophe, the government refuses to take the anti-capitalist measures necessary to reduce emissions and reduce energy and transport costs for people.
“Urgent and transformative action is necessary and we plan large investments in a nationalised electricity system and a climate action service to drive a state-led programme to achieve a carbon-free economy as urgently as the climate crisis demands.
“Our budget also includes a proposal for the acquisition of 500 additional electric buses and for the hiring of the bus workers needed to get these buses on the road. In contrast to the government’s inexplicable increase in public transport fares, this is the sort of measure needed to deliver the free and frequent public transport we all need.”
SEE OUR ALTERNATIVE BUDGET 2027 HERE: https://www.pbp.ie/alternative-budget-2027/